FIRE IN NIGHT

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 248, 15 July 1932, Page 10

FIRE IN NIGHT

Upper Stories of Hotel RESCUE OF WOMEN Gathered on Fire-escape TOTAL DAMAGE NOT GREAT Dominion Special Service. Dunedin, July 14. Clothed only in their night attire, twelve women and girls made a sensational escape down ladders from the top of the five-storied Wains Hotel in Princes Street early tins morning when fire swept through the staff’s quarters on the fourth and filth floors. The fire had obtained a strong hold when the fire brigade arrived, and the women and girls had been driven from their rooms on to the fire escape, where they stood screaming for help till police and firemen assisted them to safety. Only one girl was Injured. When the alarm was sounded, she was stricken with panic. She opened the door of her room leading on to a corridor where the flames were fiercest and rushed into the blaze. She was slightly burned, but when assistance arrived she was easily controlled. The young girls and other women showed remarkable self-control. The first efforts of the constables and firemen on their arrival were to bring the women to safety and they were then tken to another hotel. Porter Gives Alarm. When a night porter was on his way to make a cup of tea he heard the noise of a heavy object falling. His first thought was that some person was attempting to break into the bar facing Princes Street, but he found everything intact’ there. He went out into Princes Street to see that the neighbouring shops were not being entered, and when he looked up he saw the reflection of the flames. The porter quickly sounded the fire bells inside the hotel and telephoned for the brigade. The staff and some members of the family of Mr. George Coughlan, the licensee, were asleep in their rooms on the fourth and fifth floors overlooking Princes Street, and they lost no time in looking for an exit. The women and girls found the corridors ablaze, and their only egress was through the windows on to the fire escape landings high above the main street.

Frightened to descend the ladders, they stood on the landings screaming for help, and their cries were heard simultaneously in Manse and High Streets by Constables Sayer and Simpson, who both sent through calls to the fire brigade. Constable Sayer was first to reach the hotel. He ran up the stairs to the third floor, but the flames beat him back. He went through to the fire escape and ascended to the fourth floor, where he found six young women in their night attire, while on the floor above were another six female members of the hotel staff. With the assistance of constables and firemen Constable Sayer helped the women to descend the ladders. The guests, who were in the rear section of the hotel, were able to make Ipss hurried exits after they had been awakened by the ringing of the fire bells. The staff quarters were ablaze when the brigade arrived, but the save was so thorough that the general service of the hotel was not interfered with to-day. Estimate of Damage. The furnishings of many of the rooms were damaged by smoke and water, and the carpets on the stairways' and In the halls below were ruined. The damage is estimated at £2OOO. The cause of the fire is unknown, but is surmised to be due to the fusing of an electric wire behind a cupboard. Wain’s Hotel Is one of the most solid buildings in Princes Street. It is owned bv Mr. W. T. Hazlett, and is insured in the Royal Exchange office for £9OOO, the same company holding a policj for £3500 on the contents. Mr. Coughlan, the licensee, has been, in occupation for only a few months. FLAT BADLY DAMAGED By Telegraph—Press Association. Invercargill, July 15. A faulty chimney in Newburg’s fourstoried brick and concrete block in Dee Street caused a fire in three flats last night. Considerable damage was done In the second flat, and other tenants suffered from smoke and water, but prompt work by the brigade averted a serious conflagration. >